Patient-selected music lowered immediate back-pain scores in a small emergency department trial
Patients assigned to music reported lower pain and anxiety scores than those assigned to noise cancellation immediately after a brief session.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
In this small randomized trial, patients who listened to music they chose reported lower pain and anxiety immediately afterward than patients receiving noise cancellation. The result concerns short-term symptom ratings in an emergency department. It does not establish lasting relief or whether similar results would occur in other back-pain settings.
This abstract-based explanation concerns a small trial with immediate assessments. Baseline catastrophic thinking about pain differed between groups, although analyses adjusted for it. The abstract does not define the ± values.
What researchers found
Pain severity immediately after the session
Music versus noise cancellation; patient ratings on a 0–10 scale. The abstract does not explain the ± values.
What the trial compared
Patients were randomly assigned to music or noise cancellation and rated symptoms before and after listening. The analysis accounted for a baseline difference in catastrophic thinking about pain, which was higher in the music group.
How anxiety might relate
A mediation analysis suggested that lower anxiety partly accounted for the difference in pain scores. This offers a possible explanation for the findings, but the pilot trial does not establish the mechanism or its durability.
The original publication
Randomized Trial of Self-Selected Music Intervention on Pain and Anxiety in Emergency Department Patients with Musculoskeletal Back Pain.
Goldfine CE, Wilson JM, Kaithamattam J et al.
West J Emerg Med · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40795020
- Record checked
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